Piano Man
by positiveforce
Summary: Brad-centered story. Setting in the Summer before New Direction's Sophomore year.


**A/N: **It's been almost 5 months since I haven't updated any of my old stories. I'm sorry. Umm... here's a new one. And it's about Brad over the Summer. Not a lot of Brad fanfics here, I guess I know why. Lol. But Brad's really cool so... I made one. Hope you guys like it. Don't worry, our favorite Glee club's here. :D Reviews are appreciated.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Glee or Brad and the other Glee club's life. Oh, and the songs mentioned here.

* * *

It's the start of summer. You are ready and excited to start your day by visiting your daughter and Katherine, (your ex-but-you're-still-in-love-with-wife) right across the country. You expect hearing your alarm song to wake you up. But instead, you hear your phone ringing the Classic Nokia tune. You shrug, but answer it… you don't look at the caller ID.

You're about to ask who he is, but he already starts by saying… "Hey Brad! Listen; are you busy for the whole week?" And before you even answer, he already explains why, "Because I was wondering if you could help me and the kids, you see, it turned out Aural Intensity was disqualified from Nationals… this means New Directions is in. Rachel-," You hear someone clears her throat on the other line, then he continues, "I mean, we would want to practice early and warm up-,"

"Gee. That sounds great. Sure." You reply, cutting him from giving out more information about those kids who you don't really manage to remember their names. But you do care for them, but you don't feel appreciated. You wonder why you are doing this again. You don't know the answer, but agrees, anyway. You hang-up first, before he starts talking again.

You check what time is it; it's 5:45am in the morning. You groan before making another phone call, you dial her number; it's ironic how you still memorize all those digits.

"Hello?" she asks in a nonchalant tone, you smile at the sound of her voice. You remind her who you were, and then apologize for not being able to be there for Stephanie's 8th birthday party. Somehow, you wished your ex-wife took it worse, but she had no feelings for you, anymore.

"It's fine," she replies, and it does sound like she really is okay about it. "It's great, actually. She was thinking about going to the Carnival instead with umm… Stan." The last word was a huge stung on the throat. You are hurt; your daughter prefers spending more time with her step-dad than with you. But you say it's cool, you ask her to greet Steph for you, she agrees and you hung-up before she could even say anything else.

This is going to be a long week. You even think you've forgotten something really important coming in the end of the week.

You arrive at Will's house after lunch, you see the kids. One is smiling, weirdly at you, you remember her name; it's Rachel... she called you right after you peed on the restroom near the auditorium, before. She claimed that you were "always just around" to her pretty mom. Will tends to always give her the lead.

Then there's that flamboyant boy, who looked like he was really bored waiting for you. Well, excuse you for having other plans to actually spend a real summer. He's Kurt with his best friend, who has an incredibly big voice. You will never forget her name, her name is your dream car; Mercedes.

Then there's that innocent jock, who always looked confused, like now. You remember his name, it's Finn. Aside from the fact that Will usually gives him the male lead, you will never forget him due to the fact that he punched that badass Jew. You forget that Mohawk guy's name, you recall that it's Fuck but then no mother in the right mind would name her child that. Maybe it's Puck… or Buck?

Then you see the blonde chick near him, who you think has been through a lot in her sophomore year. She is no longer pregnant, but it looks like she's dating that Buck guy. Her voice is okay. You will never forget her pregnant performance, though, you will take more note on that when Stephanie's 16. You think her name is Queen?

Then there's that wheelchair gleek- you like the word that you've just thought of, gleek- anyway, he has the most underrated voice. He's Artie. He sings amazingly, and it looks like he is pretty happy to see you, he looks pretty happy seeing everyone, actually. How could you forget him? He made everyone be on wheelchairs. You just had to support them. It's totally hypocritical for Will to not even be in a wheelchair, poor kids. Then there's his girlfriend- you think, the girl who only got one solo in the entire year. She needs more, if they ask you. She dresses crazy and she made everyone dress crazy as well in one week. You recall her scaring the crap out of Principal Figgins. Gina… no, no… Tina?

Then there's those two Cheerios, who you think are dating. But then you recall the blonde one- Brittany, offering to make-out with you, you politely decline, of course. You are happy to see them out of their uniforms, for once. They do have normal clothes! You can't remember the pretty Latina's name, though. You do remember her pushing Mercedes after their duet. Makes you wonder how on Earth did they practice that number together?

There's that dude who is lying on the couch. You never did learn his name. He hardly even spoke. But you remember Sue calling him Shaft or something.

Why on Earth do they need you? You even heard that Kurt kid play the piano really great, once.

You apologize for being late. Rachel accepts your apology, you just had to cringe. She looks around and recalls that someone is missing, "Where's Mike?" You think she's referring to that Asian guy who's a really good dancer.

"He's not coming," Shaft spoke; finally you get to hear him speak for the second time… first time was when you helped them arrange To Sir, With Love.

Rachel nods, and look towards you with that ridiculous grin on her face, again. She gives you a sheet music. You nod with a smile and glance at the song; Seasons of Love from RENT. You've never heard about this song before, but you are pretty confident that you got this on the bag. You start playing and they start singing…

Finn blew a note, so Rachel makes you start from the beginning again. You nod, not showing any bother. As they begin, you noticed Shaft blew a lyric, but no one seemed to care or notice, poor kid. You hear Finn complain, "Matt said 'seconds' isn't it minutes?" So that's what his name is; Matt. The other kids and Will groan, Will nods for you to start the song again.

They reach the part where Rachel sings her solo line, _"Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes. Five hundred twenty five thousand journeys to plan."_ She reached a really high note in the Kurt enters with, "_Five-"_

"Stop. You're not singing that line, Mercedes is," Rachel states. Kurt looked really pissed, but he held his temper, "Then what line am I supposed to sing?"

Rachel confidently looks at Mr. Schue; he looks down at his feet, "Um… I'm sorry Kurt. You don't get a line, here"

Kurt looked pissed, while Rachel slyly smiled.

Will rolls his eyes, "tell you what, you're going to sing the lines in this song…" Will says, showing Kurt another sheet music…

You exaggeratedly roll your eyes after Will says from the top, and no one seems to notice that you're exhausted. And they repeat the same mistake for the nth time.

After watching Rachel and Kurt exchange insults at each other, you excuse yourself to go to the bathroom.

Finn tells you to take your time, with a smile and a nod. You nod back.

In the bathroom, you hear someone playing a familiar song… you complain why do they even need you if one of them can also play piano? That's only your purpose, right?

You go back to the rehearsal and you wonder why they're all looking at you with really wide 'show-faces.' You're about to take your seat near the piano but you see that Kurt is sitting. So you shrug, and you just stand there.

Suddenly, Kurt plays the music you heard in the bathroom, a while ago. And Buck starts to sing… "_It's nine o'clock on a Saturday__. __The Regular crowd shuffles in__. __There's an old man sitting next to me__. __Makin' love to his tonic and gin_"

Then suddenly Will sings the second verse… _"He says, "Son, can you play me a memory. I'm not really sure how it goes…" _

Wait a minute; you kind of know this song.

Suddenly everyone sings, "_La la la, di da da. La la, di da da da dum…"_

Wait, where's Rachel? You mean, you only notice because she's not in the middle for once.

In the chorus, Rachel pulled out a cake from Will's kitchen… who's it for? You? But it's not your- wait a minute; what day is it? Is it Saturday? June 19? It is! It is your birthday! You tear up a little bit.

You're a little ashamed about the fact that you've forgotten your own birthday. Even your ex-wife and your daughter didn't seem to care. Can you believe that? Your own family doesn't even remember.

You watch as Rachel gives you the cue to blow your candles. You laugh at the irony of it having 48 candles, you're exact age. "Make a wish!" Rachel brightly says.

You wish for the Glee kids to win Nationals with all their heart. As for now, they're your new family.

Oh, and maybe a new school staff who's pretty and single, next year? 


End file.
